JB: I enjoyed Ed Moloney’s books on Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat?and A Secret History of the IRA, and also Tim Shipman’s All Out War and Fall Out on Brexit. But my favourite book of all time is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War closely followed by Robert Greene’s 33 Strategies of War. This just edges The Run Of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin.

TPQ: A must-read before you die?

JB: I could die tomorrow so I don’t really have a set plan. I enjoy reading books as they come to me, some old and some new.TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

JB: I don’t read fiction at all. I don’t enjoy it.

TPQ: Favourite female author?

JB: I thought Ruth Dudley Edwards book on the Omagh bombing, Aftermath, was very good.

TPQ: Favourite male author?

JB: Probably Robert Greene, although I tend to always follow Jeffrey Toobin’s books and in recent years Tim Shipman.

TPQ: First book you ever read?

JB:The Famous Five.

TPQ: Favourite childhood author?

JB: Enid Blyton.TPQ: Any book you point blank refuse to read?JB: No, I enjoy reading alternative arguments, even those I disagree with. It allows you to test your own ideas in the fires of scrutiny and to intellectually challenge yourself against others arguments.

TPQ: Any author you point blank refuse to read?

JB: No.TPQ: Pick a book to give to somebody so that they would more fully understand you.

JB: Well Malachi O’Doherty has a chapter on me in his recent book Fifty Years On. So probably that or my own book covering my involvement in the flag protests, My Only Crime Was Loyalty. Although I was reasonably young when I wrote that book and would read back now and cringe at some of the things I said in it. But fundamentally it is still a good explanation of my political motivations in a rather unvarnished format.

JB: I enjoyed Ed Moloney’s books on Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat?and A Secret History of the IRA, and also Tim Shipman’s All Out War and Fall Out on Brexit. But my favourite book of all time is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War closely followed by Robert Greene’s 33 Strategies of War. This just edges The Run Of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin.

TPQ: A must-read before you die?

JB: I could die tomorrow so I don’t really have a set plan. I enjoy reading books as they come to me, some old and some new.TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

JB: I don’t read fiction at all. I don’t enjoy it.

TPQ: Favourite female author?

JB: I thought Ruth Dudley Edwards book on the Omagh bombing, Aftermath, was very good.

TPQ: Favourite male author?

JB: Probably Robert Greene, although I tend to always follow Jeffrey Toobin’s books and in recent years Tim Shipman.

TPQ: First book you ever read?

JB:The Famous Five.

TPQ: Favourite childhood author?

JB: Enid Blyton.TPQ: Any book you point blank refuse to read?JB: No, I enjoy reading alternative arguments, even those I disagree with. It allows you to test your own ideas in the fires of scrutiny and to intellectually challenge yourself against others arguments.

TPQ: Any author you point blank refuse to read?

JB: No.TPQ: Pick a book to give to somebody so that they would more fully understand you.

JB: Well Malachi O’Doherty has a chapter on me in his recent book Fifty Years On. So probably that or my own book covering my involvement in the flag protests, My Only Crime Was Loyalty. Although I was reasonably young when I wrote that book and would read back now and cringe at some of the things I said in it. But fundamentally it is still a good explanation of my political motivations in a rather unvarnished format.

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Anthony McIntyre

Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process. Lead researcher for the Belfast Project, an oral history of the Troubles.